Round the World Adventure with Kids: Dad’s Clothing List

What do you wear when you’re traveling to 10 countries in 6 months? I spent probably too much time before the trip thinking about this.

This was my first time traveling south of the equator, and we’d be traveling to a lot of hot and humid places, like rainforests. Since I don’t really like heat and humidity too much I wanted clothes that would breathe well and wick away sweat. Also thinking about basically living out of suitcases for 6 months, I wanted to have enough clothes to wear between times when we’d be able to do laundry, and to be as quick drying as possible since I didn’t count on clothes dryers. Of course all the clothing would ideally would be lightweight and easy to pack.

Most things I ordered from Amazon. I was working hard to tie things up at the office before leaving, and with everything else going on we didn’t have much time to go out shopping.

Fortunately, almost everything worked out great. So here, taken from our Amazon order history, is a list of gear:

Shoes: Inov-8 F-Lite 240

I bought these for Crossfit in early 2015 when the trip was just barely an idea. They are still my all-time favorite Crossfit/lifting shoes, very lightweight. Even though they weren’t specifically bought with world travel in mind, I wore them all around the world, from city to rainforest, getting them wet, hiking through rocky valleys, etc., and they definitely held up well. Also very comfortable (and did I mention lightweight?) They drew the occasional comment because of their color – mine are blue & red (‘Awesome’ as Amy says). In Kigali International Airport, for example, someone mentioned that they looked really light and comfortable and asked me about them.

They looked a bit worn after the trip, but are still totally intact! I did get a pair of F-Lite 250s after the trip, but nothing can really replace these.

ONNO Bamboo T-Shirts

I love these shirts! I had seven, in all different colors*, that I brought for the trip and still wear regularly. Nice things on a long term trip: they work well in humid environments, they’re extremely comfortable, and because they’re bamboo, you can wear them for a couple of days in a row without them feeling dirty or smelling bad 🙂 (which was welcome on our double overnight journey from Sao Paolo to Port Elizabeth)

David Archy Ultra Fast Dry Boxer Briefs

I had two packs of these – these were great! They work nicely in humidity, are very fast drying for laundry purposes, and fold up extremely small. I think between these and my socks I got away with one small cube (more on packing cubes in another post!)

Columbia Silver Ridge Shorts

These were highly recommended on a number of travel forums. Nice features: quick dry, breathable, lightweight, and they have a zippered pocket for wallet etc. Also super lightweight and fold up really small.

Quiksilver socks (Colorful!!)

Great socks. Low cut because I mostly wore shorts on the trip. Synthetic so they dried quickly.

Six pairs in multiple bright colors because:

They look cool! Especially with the blue shoes

You always know if you’re missing a sock, and they’re easy to match up after washing

Columbia travel pants

I wanted a pair of travel pants – these were good in places with a lot of mosquitoes which ruled out shorts, but where I still wanted something lightweight to wear – i.e. Machu Picchu. Or in temples in Malaysia and Thailand where shorts were inappropriate or not allowed. I did bring a pair of jeans which I though looked better than these, but jeans wouldn’t have worked in the humid tropical areas. These definitely did the trick as hiking pants.

Hybrid Shorts

Excellent shorts, a bit more stylish than the Columbia Ridge pair. I actually did use these in the water once, in Rio between tearing the swimsuit I brought with me and buying new ones in Niteroi (buying swimwear in Brazil – a whole other story!). After that they were fine for beach wear if I wasn’t swimming.

Overall

Rangitoto Island, Auckland NZ

I was pretty happy with my clothing choices. I didn’t overpack or underpack – which is pretty amazing on a 6 month 10 country trip. I did buy some clothes for the relatively colder climate in Italy – as planned. And had to get a few replacement items along the way – obviously not planned.

Strongest recommendations for the ONNO shirts and David Archy boxer briefs, and of course the Inov-8 240s.

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